Philip Parris Lynott (20 August 1949 – 4 January 1986) was an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter, who first came to prominence as a member of Thin Lizzy. Lynott was born in Hallam Hospital (now Sandwell General Hospital) in West Bromwich (then in Staffordshire), England, the son of a Guyanese father, Cecil Parris, and a White Irish Catholic mother, Philomena (aka Phyllis) Lynott, whose surname he took. His father left his mother just three weeks after he was born and returned to his native Brazil.